The Professor of Secrets: Mystery, Medicine, and Alchemy in Renaissance Italy

In the tradition of Galileo's Daughter and Brunelleschi's Dome, this exciting story illuminates the captivating world of the late Renaissance & in this case its plagues, remedies, and alchemy & through the life of Leonardo Fioravanti, a brilliant, remarkably forward-thinking, and utterly unconventional doctor. Fioravanti's marvelous cures and talent for self-aggrandizement earned him the adoration of the people, the scorn of the medical establishment, and a reputation as one of the age's most colorful, combative figures. Written by Pulitzer-prize nominated historian William Eamon, The Professor of Secret entices readers into a dangerous scientific underworld of sorcerers and surgeons. Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this gripping narrative will appeal to those interested in Renaissance history, the development of science, and the historical thrillers so popular today.

William Eamon is a widely published, internationally known and respected scholar based at New Mexico State University. His first book, Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in the Medieval and Early Modern Culture was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in history and won the History Book Award from the Association of American Publishers. He is co-editor of the excellently reviewed Beyond the Black Legend: Spain and the Scientific Revolution.

Prologue: Experience and memory — Mia dolce patria — The empire of disease — Medical Bologna — Leonardo and the anatomists — The education of a surgeon — The road of experience — The carnival doctor — The new Asclepius — The marvelous virtues of Precipitato — Charlatan or wonder worker? — An ingenious surgery — The marvels of Naples — An academy of magi — The university of war — The cardinal's house — A surgeon in Rome — A road not taken — Venetian curiosities — The lure of the charlatan — A writer for the age — Venice's scientific underworld — Mathematical magic — The search for the philosopher's stone — A star is born — The medical entrepreneur — Ambition and glory — A conspiracy of doctors — Leonardo the chameleon — Life and art — In the court of the Catholic king — Masters of fire — The charlatan's trial — "Il mio sacco e vuoto" — The judgment of history — Epilogue: Traces.